NEW YORK, Feb 26, 2003/ FWD/ --- Good news for toy manufacturers and punk revivalists: Barbie’s grown into a bad girl at Keanan Duffty, and she’s out to have a very naughty time.

Instead of a catwalk show with live models, Duffty, the recent recipient of the Fashion Group International's prestigious Rising Star award for men’s wear, presented a wacky video of various Barbies and Kens attired in his colorful party gear. He very logically called the presentation in a small Soho gallery, “New York Dolls.”

But Keanan’s dolls were puppets with a difference. Blindfolded with leather masks, bedecked with chains, bondage gear and studs and done up with immense quantities of hair, they were all believers of the dictum that there’s not much fun without a little pain. Using a backdrop of classic punk album covers, the mannequins “strutted” their stuff, even taking a bow at the finale, before a beaming Duffty peeked into the scene.

Critics keen to get a closer look at the clothes could check out the miniature “models” in illuminated boxes set into the gallery’s walls. For fall 2003, Duffty thinks people should go out on a Friday night in ripped yellow T-shirts with huge images of Sid Vicious, skimpy minis and fatigue pants that recalled the late Joe Strummer. The designer showed men’s and women’s looks, and certain tops looked like they could work on either Ken or Barbie.

Knocking back a Heineken, Duffty told FWD, “People are meant to have a laugh. You should enjoy yourself in my clothes.” If they’re anything like the Ken and Barbie in his “show,” they will.